DiversityNursing Blog

By Rob Goodier

(Reuters Health) - Fictional male nurses on television are sidelined in supporting roles, portrayed as the butt of jokes and cast as commentary providers or minority representatives, all of which makes it harder in reality to recruit men to nursing and retain them, according to a new study.

"People don't make decisions about which profession to choose just based on television, but students have told us that popular TV shows can help them choose a career, or that TV perpetuates negative stereotypes about nursing that they then have to address in practice," said Dr. Roslyn Weaver, an adjunct fellow at the University of Western Sydney School of Nursing and Midwifery, who led the research.

"So when men in nursing are almost invisible in popular culture or are stereotyped as incompetent or somehow ‘unmasculine', then men who choose to enter nursing can find it difficult to combat this," Weaver told Reuters Health by email. "Perhaps reflecting this, there are often higher attrition rates for male students than female students in nursing."

In the United States men account for roughly 9 percent of nurses, according to the census bureau. And that figure is similar in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Past research has documented "stereotypical images around nursing, such as the battle-axe, naughty nurse and handmaiden," Weaver and her colleagues write in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

With a growing number of men entering the profession, the authors point out, it's just as important to examine how male nurses are portrayed in popular culture.

For their study, the researchers viewed one season of each of five American medical television dramas, including Grey's Anatomy, Hawthorne, Mercy, Nurse Jackie and Private Practice. They evaluated aspects of the episodes such as dialogue, costumes, casting, cinematography and editing to compile a perspective on the ways that male nurses are characterized.

To their credit, the shows tended to expose and reject stereotypes. But, in a contradictory
trend, they also reinforced the clichés by characterizing male nurses as men who are not traditionally masculine, the researchers found.

Common stereotypes that the shows reinforced include the nurse who is mistaken for a doctor and the gay or emasculated male nurse. Male nurses and midwives in the shows tend to suffer condescension from their colleagues and patients and are the object of comedy.

The male nurse characters also tend to hit multiple diversity targets in casting. The researchers coined the term "minority loading" to denote characters who represent more than one minority group, such as Angel Garcia on Mercy, a gay Hispanic male nurse, and Mo-Mo on Nurse Jackie, a gay Muslim male nurse.

The results were "pretty consistent" with a prior study of male nurses in film that Dr. David Stanley, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Western Australia, published in 2012.

By Heather Stringer

 

Atkins is not alone. Most nurses throughout the country are feeling the impact of significant national factors, such as the recession and healthcare reform, that are changing the landscape of nursing jobs.

“Nurse salaries — and really salaries for any profession — are generally determined by supply and demand,” said Joanne Spetz, PhD, a noted healthcare and nursing economics researcher and professor at the Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco. “What we’ve been seeing in California is that the wages of nurses really flattened out and may have even dropped in the past four years after a period of rapid wage growth.”

According to data from a 2012 survey from the California Board of Registered Nursing, the annual salary of nurses in California increased from $45,073 to $81,428 between 1997 and 2008. In the past five years, however, salaries flattened and even dropped between 2010 and 2012. 

 

RNs across the nation are experiencing a similar trend, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Starting in 2009, the median annual wage increases were 2% or less, compared with double or triple that percentage the previous five years. Between 2011 and 2012, the latest data available, the median annual wage for RNs nationally increased only 1%, from $69,110 to $69,935. Data from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing shows that nurse faculty salaries are stagnating as well.

Although many hospitals have become more conservative in hiring nurses, Spetz suggested there are strategies nurses can use to increase their chances of securing a desirable position in the long run. “I know a lot of new graduates like to look for the perfect job, but if the labor market is tight in your area, just get a job because some experience will make you more competitive and help you get that perfect job in the future,” she said. “If you are an associate-degree graduate and can go back to school, do it.”

For Atkins, the willingness to be flexible paid off in the short term. After a year as director of an ED in Louisiana, he was recruited to fill an interim ED director position at a larger hospital system in Missouri. Although the position was short-term, he hoped the experience would help him eventually land a position in California. Then the call came: A traveling company recruited him for an interim position in California. This interim position eventually turned into a full-time permanent role as house and bed control supervisor at Kaiser Permanente in Hayward, Calif., with an annual salary well above any of his previous salaries.

“During my previous director roles, I tried to learn everything possible about budgets, audits and the hospital, such as how to set up an incident command center and emergency response teams,” Atkins said. “Now I absolutely love my job, and my hours allow me to be home with my children in the evening.”

Forces at work

While recessions and salary changes tend to be cyclical, the future is less predictable with the convergence of several national trends.

“The first factor is the real impact healthcare reform will have, and a lot of that is relatively unknown,” said Terry Bennett, RN, MS, CHCR, president of the National Association for Health Care Recruitment, based in Lenexa, Kan. “Organizations are struggling to predict the impact of decreasing physician and Medicare reimbursements, and they are really trying to maintain financial security. They are not giving the same type of market adjustments that they used to [give nurses], and some are decreasing the amount of merit increases given to nurses.”

In addition, the supply of nurses has increased in the past decade as a growing number of nursing school graduates join baby boomers still on the job, Spetz said. “The baby boomers have been more career-focused than any generation preceding them,” she said. “They might not want to fully retire even if the recession lifts.” 

 

However, other factors could increase demand for RNs and drive up salaries. “What we would expect is that as the economy improves and as the Affordable Care Act allows more people with insurance to seek healthcare, we would see demand for nurses go up,” said Spetz. “Also, as baby boomers age and require more healthcare, this could also drive up demand for services.”

Nurse staffing ratio laws also may increase the number of positions available in hospitals, said Brannen Betz, general manager of Aureus Medical Group, a national nurse staffing company. According to the American Nurses Association, 15 states have enacted legislation or adopted regulations to address nurse staffing. “Many states are moving toward mandating nurse-to-patient ratios, and this could be the best thing that happens to nurses,” Betz said. 

 

Maximum trajectory

As healthcare employers prepare for these changes, nurses can position themselves to stand out from their competition.

“We are no longer just putting someone in the job because they have a credential,” said Julie Hill, RN, BSN, CHCR, RACR, recruitment coordinator for Georgetown Hospital System in South Carolina and vice president of NAHCR. “Now we have a larger applicant pool, so we can select the best nurse for the job. Many hospitals use behavioral assessment tools so they can make sure that an individual has the positive service attributes that lead to good hospital consumer assessment scores and less likelihood of turnover.”

Georgetown uses a behavioral assessment tool combined with a separate reference assessment tool, Hill said. Hospitals are looking for nurses who are flexible, customer-focused, compassionate, have a strong work ethic and work well with team members, she said.

Nurses with specialty training also are in higher demand, said Kay Cowling, CEO of Fastaff Travel Nursing, based in Denver. Nurses with experience in ORs, labor and delivery, cardiovascular ICUs or pediatric areas have more options, Cowling said. RNs who know how to use electronic health record systems also have an advantage in the job market, she said. 

Source: Nurse.com

The National Black Nurses Association recently announced its newly elected officers and members of the board of directors and nominating committee. 

The Rev. Deidre Walton, RN-PHN, MSN, JD, of Keverdon and Associates, Valencia, Calif., also was elected to a second two-year term as NBNA president.

“Congratulations to the new officers, board members and nominating committee members in your new roles of service to the NBNA,” Walton said in a news release. “On behalf of the board of directors, I welcome you and look forward to working with you this upcoming year.” 

Other new officers include Secretary Martha Dawson, RN, DNP, FACHE, assistant professor, Department of Community Health, Outcomes and Systems, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing; and Student Representative Darnell Caldwell, student, Southern University School of Nursing in Baton Rouge, La. 

Newly elected board members are Monica Enn

is, RN, EdD, director of medical professions, Desert Winds Training Institute, Phoenix; U.S. Public Health Service Capt. Laurie C. Reid, RN, MS, senior public health adviser, Office of Health Equity, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, STD, Viral Hepatitis and TB Prevention at the CDC, Atlanta; and U.S. Army Reserve Col. Sandra Webb-Booker, RN, PhD, chief nurse, 330th Medical Brigade, Fort Sheridan, Ill.

Continuing board members are: First Vice President Eric J. Williams, RN, DNP, CNE, professor of nursing, Santa Monica College, Los Angeles; Second Vice President Lola Denise Jefferson, RN,C, BSN, CVRN, nursing supervisor, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston; Treasurer Beulah Nash-Teachey, RN, PhD, president, Security Association and Services LLC, Evans, Ga.; Historian Irene Daniels-Lewis, RN, PhD, FAAN, professor emeritus, 

Community Health/Psychiatric Faculty Group, San Jose (Calif.) State University School of Nursing; Parliamentarian Ronnie Ursin, RN, DNP, MBA, NEA-BC, of Gaithersburg, Md.; Immediate Past President Debra A. Toney, RN, PhD, FAAN, Director of Clinical Operations, Nevada Health Clinics, Las Vegas; Trilby Barnes-Green, RN,C, Accountable Care Organization/Ochsner on Call, Ochsner Healthcare Systems, and Labor/Delivery staff nurse, Touro Hospital, New Orleans; Keneshia Bryant, RN, PhD, FNP-BC, assistant professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Nursing, Little Rock, Ark.; Audwin Fletcher, APRN, PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN, professor and director of multicultural affairs, University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Nursing, Jackson, Miss.; C. Alicia Georges, RN, EdD, FAAN, ex-officio member, professor and chairwoman, Department of Nursing, Lehman College of the City University of New York, New York City; Deborah Jones, RN,C, MS, former trustee of Galveston Independent School Dist

rict, Texas City, Texas; Melba Lee-Hosey, LVN, BS, Ameripro Home Health Care LLC, Spring, Texas; and Sandra McKinney, RN, MS, president and CEO of McKinney and Associates, San Jose, Calif. 

Vanessa Auguillard, RN, BSN, preceptor, DaVita Acute, Houston, and Joyce R. Spaulding, RN, MSN, CDE, outpatient diabetes educator, CNIV, Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, were named as new nominating committee members. 

Returning committee members include Azella Collins, RN, MSN, PRP, chairwoman; Rhonda Robinson, RN, MSN, case manager, Humana, Cincinnati; and Bessie Trammell, RN, BSN, staff nurse, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston. 

Source: Nurse.com

By Joyce Riddle, RN-CPN, BSN

One day, as I was relaxing during some quiet time, it dawned on me that I was a seasoned nurse with the ability to influence some of my younger or less-experienced co-workers. I have worked as an RN for the same organization for 23 years, and I had something to offer them.

Too often, older nurses are seen as being a bit crotchety, negative or uncaring to some of the younger nurses or newbies. That has to change; why make people feel uncomfortable?

Years ago, as a new nurse, I went through an orientation to the unit. Once competent with some skills, I became the team leader for my patients. If I had questions, I knew I could ask my charge nurse, but I never had a mentor or felt there was one particular nurse to whom I could always turn. I knew I wanted to become that go-to person for my younger counterparts. I enjoyed teaching and helping new employees master skills and tasks.

I am a spiritual person with Christian beliefs. This is part of what makes me who I am. On my commute to work, I get motivated for the day by listening to Christian music. I understand others may not share similar beliefs, but I think everyone needs to find what fulfills them and practice it daily before work, whether it is exercising, reading or just spending time alone.

Make it a point to bring your best to work each day. After all, that is what we are getting paid to do. Once at work, acknowledge everyone with a smile, eye contact or a simple "hello." I've seen how acts of inclusion or kindness filter down to others. On occasion, unfamiliar colleagues may come by my unit and I smile at them, furthering the process of encouragement to others. Kindness can be contagious.

My mantra or focus is to encourage young nurses so they will establish themselves at our facility and become great, seasoned nurses. I have watched some start out as new graduate nurses and then continue their education and grow professionally. I have seen many nurses come and go, but others stay and continue with their education. I support my co-workers who decide to go this route.

For the longest time, I talked myself out of obtaining my certification in pediatric nursing. Once I chose to pursue it, I immediately wondered why I waited so long. Now I routinely ask my co-workers, "When are you going to do it?" Supporting them and encouraging their growth adds more satisfaction to my daily work. It will be gratifying when all my immediate co-workers obtain and maintain their CPNs.

We all have different strengths we can bring to work. Some nurses have a soft touch. Others have a friendly smile or a knack for speaking kind words. All of these can be examples of conduct for the young nurse. 

Remember, just like young children who watch and mimic their parents, the newbies are watching our responses toward one another and our patients. Positive expressions are necessary for their growth.

Before speaking or doing something, I ask myself, "Is this going to encourage or discourage?" I want to know I am encouraging someone to be a better nurse. I will not gossip or make any unkind comments toward my co-workers for the newbie to hear. The younger nurses will not overhear derogatory comments from this veteran.

Every day, I tell myself with pride, "I am a seasoned nurse." I will embrace that I am a little older and more experienced, and will welcome opportunities to use that experience. I hope my seasoned co-workers will join me to make our jobs productive by helping our younger nurses. We all have something to contribute to foster hope and encouragement. 

Source: Nurse.com

The American Nurses Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Nurses Association, in June announced a $75,000 grant to the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia to develop a post-traumatic stress disorder tool kit to help RNs better assess and treat PTSD in the nation’s veterans and military service members. Penn Nursing’s Nancy Hanrahan, RN, PhD, CS, FAAN, will lead the project at the university.

"Given that June is PTSD Awareness Month, this was the perfect time to highlight the serious consequences of PTSD, if left untreated, and what nurses can do to ensure that veterans receive the highest level of care," ANF Chairwoman Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, RN, PhD, MBA, FAAN, said in a news release. "At ANF, we are striving to transform the nation’s health through the power of nursing. We are excited about this new project because these tools will help nurses learn detection and treatment options that can help our nation’s veterans and service members transition successfully back into civilian life." 

ANF will work with Penn Nursing to develop an interactive, PTSD-focused website, an e-learning module based on advanced gaming techniques and a downloadable smartphone app that will provide immediate access to materials for RNs to assess, treat, and refer military members and veterans for help with their symptoms. These e-learning tools will certify that an RN is grounded in assessment, treatment, referral and non-stigmatizing educational approaches to self-care and mutual help, according to the release. 

"In the United States, there are more than 3 million registered nurses that work in the community and in hospitals," Hanrahan said in the release. "By virtue of the large numbers of RNs and their presence in common community settings, military members and their families can receive timely access to self-care and help from RNs."

The grant to Penn Nursing was made possible by funding from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. The tool kit will be piloted in Pennsylvania during the fall with a national launch planned for 2014. Additionally, Penn Nursing’s forthcoming health technology lab program will support RN inventors who desire to use technology and game theory to address healthcare challenges. 

Source: Nurse.com

By Megan Murdock Krischke

Why do new nurses often leave their jobs in the first year? And what can be done to keep their careers on track, improve nurse retention and keep the costly issue of turnover in check?

A new study published in the July-August issue of Nursing Economic$ may help to answer these questions.

A few years ago the North Shore-LIJ Health System (NSLIJ) in New York set out to identify some of the key reasons for nurse loss in the first year of employment and created a nurse residency program to counteract that loss. A team of nurses at NSLIJ monitored the before and after results in order to measure the efficacy of program.

“What we recognized was the way we were orienting new nurses wasn’t meeting the needs of this computer-minded generation,” said M. Isabel Friedman, DNP, MPA, RN, BC, CCRN, CNN, program director of nurse fellowship programs for the Center for Learning and Innovation at North Shore-LIJ Health System and the lead author on the study. “We created a program that met the needs of our new nurses and helped them transition from new graduate to functioning practitioner.”

This study looked particularly at the Pediatric Nurse Fellowship Program (PNFP) at Cohen Children’s Medical Center for pediatric critical care, pediatric emergency department and hematology/oncology specialties. This specialty orientation program was designed to bridge the gap between the novice nurse and the new high-acuity pediatric specialty while providing new graduate RNs with important mentoring and support tools.

“We found that when nurses feel supported, their loyalty to the hospital system increases,” Friedman explained. “Additionally, our new hires go through the fellowship program in cohorts of 5-10. The community and peer support offered by the cohort is a factor in increased retention.” 

The PNFP used a blended learning model. The core curriculum that nurses focused on during the initial weeks of the program was chosen from the curriculums offered by the national professional organization for each specialty. Each week had a theme, such as respiratory. Nurses then had seminars, skills and simulation labs, and clinical days that addressed that week’s topic. 

One of the key findings of the study was the effectiveness of having a senior nurse whose specific job it was to work with the cohort of fellows as they were transitioning to working in direct patient care.

“Study of our previous orientation showed that the transition from orientation to direct patient care in the six- to nine-month timeframe was when first year retention rates began to drop significantly. Having a senior nurse who could be by a nurse’s side as he or she did a new procedure, or easily available to ask questions, increased the confidence of our new nurses and the quality and safety of the care they provided.” Friedman stated. 

Friedman and her colleagues found that the nurse fellowship program decreased turnover significantly in the PICU and that general retention rates were statistically significant when comparing length of employment before and after the program was implemented. “As you can imagine this was good for the bottom line. When comparing expenses for the 2.5 years before instituting the PNFP and the 2.5 years following, there was a potential cost savings estimate of over $2 million.”

As an added bonus to increased nurse retention and cost savings, nurses who participated in the PNFP are showing a greater value for continuing their education through specialty certifications and pursuing master’s programs. 

“This program is easily adaptable for other specialties. We had our first residency program in adult critical care. In addition to the PNFP, we have fellowships in cardiac cath lab and labor and delivery nursing, as well as having a fellowship for nurse practitioners. Every fellowship cohort is altered to some degree in response to the feedback we receive from our fellows, preceptors and others involved in the program.” 

“One reason this particular manuscript was a good fit for Nursing Economic$ is because it addresses the measures, methods and metrics. If we are going to make a business case for caring we have to make sure that we have the data that supports nursing’s work. This article showed in black and white how what they were doing helped the bottom line,” remarked Donna M. Nickitas, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNE, editor of Nursing Economic$.

“It emphasizes what we have been saying all along: to have a healthy work environment, you have to have a healthy workforce,” Nickitas continued. “We need to make sure our nurses are more than adequately educated and trained. This study demonstrates that the PNRP is worth the investment in time, effort and finances.”

“I love the program and I love my fellows,” Friedman effused. “They are bright and capable young people and we owe it to ourselves to educate the next generation of people who are going to be taking care of us and our loved ones. It is a fabulous feeling to see their success and see them grow and become nurse managers and to see them continually aspire to bigger and better things.” 

For more information, see the Nursing Economic$ study:
“Specialized New Graduate RN Pediatric Orientation: A Strategy for Nursing Retention and Its Financial Impact”

Source: NurseZone.com

By Samantha Cronk

For Berkeley County native Dorothy Leavitt, 93, the desire to help people is natural, so when the call came for volunteers to assist soldiers wounded in World War II, Leavitt needed no other prompting.

While she was aware of WWII and its effects, the war became personal for Leavitt after she helped care for eight severely wounded soldiers who were recovering in an army hospital in Martinsburg.

Leavitt graduated from Martinsburg High School in May 1937 at 18 and by September, she began training to become a nurse. In 1940, Leavitt graduated as a registered nurse as part of a graduating class of fewer than 10 women.

Journal photo by Samantha Cronk
Berkeley County native Dorothy Leavitt, 93, used her profession as a nurse to help soldiers wounded during World War II who were sent to recover at the Newton D. Baker Hospital in Martinsburg.

"I knew even when I was a young girl that I wanted to be a nurse. My mother had her babies at home and the nurses would be helping the doctor, and I just always wanted to be a nurse," she said.

It was during her time as a nurse that Leavitt chose to volunteer her services to wounded World War II soldiers at the Newton D. Baker Hospital, a military hospital, in Martinsburg. In 1946, the Newton D. Baker Hospital became the VA Medical Center as part of the Veterans Administration.

"I always worked in the paraplegic ward. There were about five cubicles, and each one had eight men in it. They were all young men in their 20s, paralyzed from the waist down. We always went back to the same eight men, so those eight are the ones you say you took care of," Leavitt said.

"We worked during the daytime and then every night for 18 months we went down from 7 to 10 p.m. or later, because sometimes they had to pull us away," Leavitt said.

Leavitt described her job as anything that would make the men comfortable, including rubbing their backs, washing their faces and changing their sheets.

Eventually, the men Leavitt cared for were transferred to hospitals close to where the men lived. Along with other nurses who volunteered in the paraplegic ward, Leavitt helped form the Newton D. Paraplegic Group, which kept soldiers and nurses connected.

Through the group, soldiers and nurses would stay in contact through letters and meet at least once a year for food and fellowship.

As a nurse, Leavitt worked for several local doctor's practices as well as in private duty. She also worked at the VA Center for one year in the medical ward.

Through her career as a nurse and life in Berkeley County, Leavitt has experienced many professional milestones, including working with Martinsburg's first radiologist, as well as witnessing almost a century's worth of change to Martinsburg.

"I liked to take care of patients, and I just didn't want to be behind a desk. At the time I was going for my training, it was just a job. Now, I've had some time to think back, and I realize that some of that stuff I saw during my nursing career was really miraculous," Leavitt said.

Leavitt's thumbprint can be found throughout Martinsburg. Of the 64 acres Leavitt and her late husband Charles owned as orchards, Leavitt retains 53 acres. On some of the land she sold sits the Martinsburg water tank and Orchard View Intermediate School.

"The amount of change, it's amazing. It's still a good place (to live). You can see the changes. Of course they paved the roads, we get mail and they've changed the name of (Delmar Orchard Road) so many times," Leavitt said.

Leavitt can recall living through the Great Depression, claiming that her family was fortunate to avoid the harsh conditions many families found themselves in during that time. Leavitt credits her father with providing for her mother and siblings, saying that he worked hard to find work and always provided them with new shoes and textbooks before every school year.

"I went to a two-room school house through the eighth grade. When we finished eighth grade, we had to go to the old Martinsburg High School and take a test for two days to see whether or not we were allowed to go to high school. I made the second highest (grade) in the county. You remember that kind of stuff," Leavitt said.

Leavitt said her parents supported her ambition to become a nurse. Although it has been many years since she has worked professionally, Leavitt still considers herself a nurse.

"Once you're a nurse, you're always a nurse," she said.

Source: The Journal 

By Kateri Allard

In the first year of my career as a registered nurse, I continued my education, wrapping up my bachelor's degree in nursing, not yet a requirement to work as an RN but a well-worth-it continuation of a degree to make you a more well-rounded and, to be honest, respected nurse. One of the requirements for this degree was a course called "Professional Issues and Trends." The course explored the profession of nursing, barriers it is facing, and the way that we, as nurses, can change that. I learned many things in that course, but the most important, the thing that has stuck with me the most, was this:

A few days into the course, our professor made one thing very clear: Each and every one of us, from that moment on, needed to remove "just a nurse" from our vocabulary.

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, I'm just a nurse."

I have spent six years since trying to avoid that phrase. More so, I have worked to avoid that feeling. I work hard at what I do, but I am often aware that my friends and family have no concept of what nursing is. I don't bring you to your room at the doctor's office, sit you on the table, and check your normal blood pressure, then go and get the doctor. Instead, I am often in a room with a small child on a ventilator, multiple intravenous medications infusing through central lines keeping the vascular system constricted or dilated. I monitor blood gases and adjust ventilator settings accordingly. If the blood pressure goes too high, I adjust the medications related to these values. I keep my patient adequately sedated and paralyzed, for their safety, without over-medicating them. It is often my responsibility to determine this balance.

Recently, I had a nearly 2-year-old patient who pulled his own breathing tube out in the early morning. We weren't sure whether he would do okay without it, so I monitored his respiratory status closely all morning. By mid-afternoon, he seemed to be doing well enough. By then his sedation had worn off and he had no interest in staying in bed. Concerned that he would harm himself moving around through multiple IV and arterial lines, plus a BiPap machine, and monitor leads, I decided to hold him. He had no family present but needed close to a dozen IV medications over the next five hours. I collected them all and lined them on his bed. I pulled his syringe pump that would be used for the medications off of the IV pole and placed it on the bed in front of me. I lifted him out of bed and onto my lap, into my arms. For five hours we rocked and I held him close. He stared into my eyes, played with my hair with his one arm, tried to suck his thumb through IV sites and arm boards. I gave his medications one by one until the nurse who would relieve me for the oncoming shift came in.

I'm not just a nurse. I am a nurse. I can over the course of the 12-hours shift go from interpreting serial blood gases to comforting a sick child while continuing to monitor vital signs, respiratory status, and administer medications.

I am the eyes, hands, and feet of the physician. I am not their eye candy or their inferior. I don't stand up when they enter to room. I don't follow their orders, I discuss the pathophysiology of the patient's condition with them, and together we make a plan. Often the things I suggest are the course of action we take, and other times I learn something new I had not understood from this doctor. They don't talk down to me; we discuss things together.

I had an experience this weekend, one of the first of its kind for me, and I was surprised by how angry and affected by it I was.

A friend cut their arm and hours later still struggled to stop the bleeding. I assessed the wound and created a pressure dressing out of the supplies you have available in a frat house cottage. I reluctantly informed the friend that the wound would likely need a stitch or glue. It wasn't large, but it was deep and wide and would likely heal poorly, if at all, and even if it didn't become infected would leave a decent scar. I am not one to jump to big medical interventions; if anything, I ride the line of noncompliant and under-concerned.

My opinion was shared but another guest, a doctor, decided it would probably be fine with a Band-Aid and heal without issues. He may be right, or I may be right. But a close family friend who I have known almost my entire life chimed in.

"No offense, Kateri," he said, "But obviously we're going with the doctor over the nurse for this one."

"You're just a nurse," he might as well have said, although he didn't.

I felt like I had been smacked in the back by a two-by-four. My best friend knew this would be my reaction and turned in horror as the color left my face and the posture left my shoulders. Something inside of me sunk.

The following day I struggled to understand why I was still upset. Surely he had no idea what his words had meant, or how they felt. But over lunch the following day, as I discussed my new job with my family, it became clear. My job is so much, and so much of it is misunderstood. And maybe this is no one's fault but my own. Sure, I'm a nurse. Yup, some days are sad. Yeah, blood and poop don't bother me.

But that's all I say. I don't tell you what I really do. And the media definitely doesn't either. Nurse friends, help me out here. Maybe it's time that we stop pretending we are less than we are, that we do less than we do.

I came across the following blurb this morning. I wrote it a few years ago for Nurse's Day, and it rings as true today as it did then. I may not be a doctor, but I am a nurse. And if you are someone whose mind says "just a nurse" please, go ahead and ask the nurse you know best what it is that they do. I think you may be surprised.

I am a nurse. I didn't become a nurse because I couldn't cut it in med school or failed organic chemistry, but rather because I chose this. I work to maintain my patient's dignity through intimate moments, difficult long term decisions, and heartbreaking situations. I share in the joy of newly-born babies and miraculously-cured diseases. I share in the heartbreak of a child taken too soon, a disease too powerful, a life changed forever. My patient is often an entire family. I assess and advocate. Sometimes I wipe bottoms, often I give meds, but that isn't the extent of what I do. There are people above me, and people below. I work closely with both; without them, I could not do what I do well. I chose this profession and love almost every minute of it. I know I am not alone, and I appreciate all of the nurses who work alongside me. Many of them have shaped me into the nurse I am. Someday I will shape others into the nurse they will be. This wasn't my plan B. It was my plan A, and I would gladly choose it again.

This post originally appeared on According to Kateri.

by Molly Mattison

As more Americans gain access to healthcare, and fewer physicians are available, family nurse
practitioners (FNPs) can play a valuable role in providing families with access to primary care. 

What is an FNP? 

FNPs work autonomously and as part of a primary-care health team to:

• Manage patients’ overall care
• Diagnose/treat acute and chronic conditions
• Prescribe medications
• Educate patients on disease prevention/health management

What is the salary of a family nurse practitioner?

Nurse practitioners enjoy an average, full-time, total salary of $98,760, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Named one of the best jobs in America by CNNMoney/Payscale.com in 2012, FNPs also enjoy increased autonomy, expanded responsibilities and time to spend with patients. Check out the infographic below for more reasons why family nurse practitioners are today’s healthcare superheroes:

Infographic by Chamberlain College of Nursing